Wisconsin police officer who shot Jacob Blake is 31-year-old with 7 years on the force

People yell at a line of police officers during a protest outside the Kenosha County Courthouse after a Black man, identified as Jacob Blake, was shot several times by police last night in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S. August 24, 2020. REUTERS/Stephen Maturen

(Reuters) - The white police officer who shot Jacob Blake, paralyzing the Black man and setting off civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has served on the city's police force for seven years and once told a local newspaper he had always wanted to be a policeman.

Wisconsin officials have identified Rusten Sheskey, 31, of the Kenosha Police Department as the man who shot Blake, 29, multiple times in the back on Sunday as Blake was opening the door of his car where three of his children were sitting.